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More than 100 immigrants wait in Juárez: 'The only thing we can do is stay' in Mexico

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Cuban migrant Carlo Arencibia washes his clothing in a bucket outside the shelter at the Colegio de Bachilleres in Juárez. Over 250 Cuban migrants and countless Central Americans are waiting in Juárez for their turn to make their asylum pleas in the U.S. Mark Lambie/El Paso Times

Child counselor Karen Serrano works with migrant children in a shelter in Juarez. Migrant families are waiting at the Colegio de Bachilleres in Juarez for their assigned number to be called to cross the border. Mark Lambie / El Paso Times

Child counselor Karen Serrano works with migrant children in a shelter in Juarez. Migrant families are waiting at the Colegio de Bachilleres in Juarez for their assigned number to be called to cross the border. Mark Lambie / El Paso Times

Over 250 Cuban migrants, as well as some from other nations, are being sheltered at the Colegio de Bachilleres in Juárez as they await their number to be called to be allowed to enter the U.S. to seek asylum. Mark Lambie/El Paso Times

Cuban migrant Osiris, a barber by trade, cuts hair of his fellow Cubans as he awaits entry into the United States. Over 250 Cuban migrants, among others, are sheltering at the Colegio de Bachilleres in Juarez as they await their number to be called. Mark Lambie / El Paso Times

Cuban migrant Osiris, a barber by trade, cuts hair of his fellow Cubans as he awaits entry into the United States. Over 250 Cuban migrants, among others, are sheltering at the Colegio de Bachilleres in Juarez as they await their number to be called. Mark Lambie / El Paso Times

JUAREZ, Mexico — More than 100 Central American immigrants who were in El Paso seeking U.S. asylum have been returned to Mexico to await their hearings.

U.S. Rep. Nanette Barragán and a delegation of Democratic Congressional representatives, including Veronica Escobar of El Paso, said about 140 immigrants have been sent back to Juárez from El Paso under the Department of Homeland Security's Migrant Protection Protocols.

The policy, commonly known as Remain in Mexico, started in El Paso in mid-March, but it was just last week when dozens of asylum-seekers and their children began returning to shelters in the Mexican city, Juárez Mayor Armando Cabada said at a news conference Wednesday.

Two young migrants hug after a long journey from Guatemala to El Paso, Texas.(Photo: Aaron Montes)

He said about 80 asylum-seekers had been returned to Juárez by mid-week.

Cabada expected the pace to quicken rapidly, and his city was bracing for 100 asylum-seekers a day to be sent to Juárez by next week.

“What will we do with them?” he asked. “This is something the federal government needs to respond to.”

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Hundreds of migrants are being held beneath the Paso Del Norte International Bridge in El Paso as U.S. Customs and Border Protection has run out of space to process the asylum seekers. Above, two boys look out from the fence at the bridge as protestors demand their release. Mark Lambie/El Paso Times

Hundreds of migrants were held beneath the Paso Del Norte International Bridge in El Paso after CBP ran out of space to process the asylum seekers. They since have been moved. Mark Lambie/El Paso Times

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Immigrants say all they 'can do is stay'

Jose Canilo made it to El Paso from Honduras, but he was back at a Juárez shelter on Thursday, two days after spending several days at the makeshift camp underneath the Paso Del Norte international bridge in El Paso.

The temporary camp was closed March 31 and after a short stay at a nearby processing site, Canilo and his daughter were sent back to Mexico by Customs and Border Protection officers.

“The only thing we can do is stay,” Canilo said in Juárez.

Canilo had a letter notifying him of his hearing date in the U.S. later this month. It instructed him to be at the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry at 6 a.m., when he would be picked up and taken to his immigration court hearing.

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Two tents have been erected at the U.S. Border Patrol offices on Hondo Pass. The center is in response to an increased number of Central and South Americans arriving in the United States requesting asylum. Mark Lambie / El Paso Times

Two tents have been erected at the U.S. Border Patrol offices on Hondo Pass. The center is in response to an increased number of Central and South Americans arriving in the United States requesting asylum. Mark Lambie / El Paso Times

No matter the odds, Canilo said, he had no other option. “We don’t have any money to go back” to Honduras, he said.

Yolanda Vanega, who was also returned to Mexico after being held for several days at the camp under the bridge, also planned to wait for her hearing. She is scheduled to be picked up the same day and time as Canilo.

“How can we go back when we have our children?" asked Vanega, who traveled with her daughter. "In Honduras, there’s no money.”

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Then-CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan says border region is at "breaking point" because of influx of migrants from Central America.
El Paso Times

Immigrants will have hard time receiving legal help

Representing asylum-seekers who are not physically in the United States will be a challenge for immigration attorneys, but Canilo, Vanega, and the other immigrants returned to Mexico weren't sure they would be able to find a lawyer at all.

The letters given to them by CBP provides a link to a website listing immigration attorneys who offer pro bono legal services maintained by the U.S. Department of Justice.

However, the link goes to a page in English. Internet access and even phones are hard to come by at shelters in Juárez, and many of the immigrants don't have the money to pay for those services elsewhere.

Melissa Lopez, executive director of Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services in El Paso, which offers legal counsel to immigrants, said she worried that the new protocols would make it extremely difficult for migrants to obtain adequate legal representation.

In addition to the challenges immigrants will have finding lawyers, Lopez said, there are logistical and legal concerns about whether lawyers will be able to represent immigrants who have been returned to Mexico. She is unsure whether lawyers licensed to practice in the United States can provide counsel in Mexico.

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Hospitality shelters operated by Annunciation House, an El Paso nonprofit, provides support and services to migrants.
El Paso Times

“It is still pretty shocking this is where we are in 2019,” Lopez said.

El Paso immigration court judges were accused of violating the due process rights of asylum-seekers and creating a "culture of hostility," according to a joint complaint filed by the American Immigration Council and the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

The complaint — submitted to the Office of Immigration Review, the Office of the Inspector General, and the Office of Professional Responsibility — described an already grim picture for asylum-seekers processed in El Paso.

Judges at the El Paso Service Processing Center immigration court granted only 31 out of 808 asylum applications, or about 3.84%, from fiscal year 2013 to fiscal year 2017.

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Two girls on the Juarez side of the border fence try to coax Sister Fabiola, who was carrying a huge bag of candy, closer to the fence as Father Miguel Briseño, right, offers a sign of peace to children on the other side of the barrier. Hope Border Institute and the Diocese of El Paso Commission on Migration held a border prayer vigil at the border fence in Anapra Tuesday. Clergy from El Paso, Juarez and New Mexico gathered to pray for migrants and improved immigration policy. Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso held photos of two children who died in U.S. custody and prayed it would never happen again.(Photo: Mark Lambie / El Paso Times)

Shelters in Juárez already strained to provide services

As the wave of immigrants from Central America continues to increase and with the United States now sending more asylum-seekers back to Mexico to await their hearings, the already strained shelters in Juárez will struggle even more to provide for the immigrants in their care.

The state of Chihuahua has converted a gymnasium in central Juárez into a shelter where migrants can stay and are provided food, medical supplies and mats to sleep on. Juárez city police provide security.

About 3,000 migrants were estimated to be in Juárez last week, and that number is only expected to increase as the U.S. sends more migrants back. Cabada said the Mexican federal government needs to intervene to prevent a crisis.

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In this March 5, 2019, image, Ruth Aracely Monroy, center, looks out of the family's tent alongside her 10-month-old son, Joshua, as her husband, Juan Carlos Perla, left, passes inside a shelter for migrants in Tijuana, Mexico. After fleeing violence in El Salvador and requesting asylum in the United States, the family was returned to Tijuana to await their hearing in San Diego. They were one of the first families to contend with a new policy that makes asylum seekers stay in Mexico while their cases wind through U.S. immigration courts. Gregory Bull / Associated Press

In this March 5, 2019, image, Juan Carlos Perla kisses his 10-month-old son, Joshua, inside a shelter for migrants in Tijuana, Mexico. After fleeing violence in El Salvador and requesting asylum in the United States, the family was returned to Tijuana to await their hearing in San Diego. They are one of the first families to contend with a new policy that makes asylum seekers stay in Mexico while their cases wind through U.S. immigration courts. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Gregory Bull / Associated Press

In this March 5, 2019, image, Juan Carlos Perla reacts as he and his wife, Ruth Aracely Monroy, left, searches for medicine in their tent for their 10-month-old son with a cold inside a shelter for migrants in Tijuana, Mexico. Many asylum seekers are now forced to wait in Mexico while their cases wind through U.S. immigration courts. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Gregory Bull / Associated Press

In this March 5, 2019, image, Ruth Aracely Monroy helps her son, Carlos, with his jacket among tents set up inside a shelter for migrants in Tijuana, Mexico. After fleeing violence in El Salvador and requesting asylum in the United States, the family was returned to Tijuana to wait for their hearing in San Diego. They became one of the first families to contend with a new policy that makes asylum seekers stay in Mexico while their cases wind through U.S. immigration courts. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Gregory Bull / Associated Press

In this March 5, 2019, image, Juan Carlos Perla looks out from the family's tent - a two-person tent where all five members of the family sleep - inside a shelter for migrants in Tijuana, Mexico. â€œOur fear is that we lose our case and get deportedâ€ to El Salvador, he said. â€œThatâ€™s suicide for me, my wife and my children. Gregory Bull / Associated Press

In this March 5, 2019, image, Ruth Aracely Monroy walks with her sons in Tijuana, Mexico. After fleeing violence in El Salvador and requesting asylum in the United States, the family was returned to Tijuana to wait for their hearing in San Diego. They were one of the first families to contend with a radical policy shift that makes asylum seekers stay in Mexico while their cases wind through U.S. immigration courts. Gregory Bull / Associated Press

In this March 5, 2019, image, Juan Carlos Perla and Ruth Aracely Monroy leave a shelter for migrants in Tijuana, Mexico with their sons. After fleeing El Salvador and requesting asylum in the United States, the family was returned to Tijuana to wait for their hearing in San Diego. They were one of the first families to contend with a new policy that makes asylum seekers stay in Mexico while their cases wind through U.S. immigration courts. Gregory Bull / Associated Press

In this March 5, 2019, image, Ruth Aracely Monroy walks with her sons in Tijuana, Mexico. After requesting asylum in the United States, the family was returned to Tijuana to wait for their hearing in San Diego. They were one of the first families to contend with a new policy that makes asylum seekers stay in Mexico while their cases wind through U.S. immigration courts. Gregory Bull / Associated Press

In this March 5, 2019, image, Juan Carlos Perla pushes his youngest son, Joshua, in a stroller along a street in Tijuana, Mexico. Perlaâ€™s experience suggests that a new policy forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexico may be having its intended effect of discouraging asylum claims. Trump administration officials say they want to deter weak claims, freeing up judges to consider more deserving cases. Gregory Bull / Associated Press

In this March 12, 2019, image, 10-month-old Joshua Perla looks out from the family's tent in a shelter for migrants in Tijuana, Mexico. Asylum seekers are now forced to wait in Mexico while their cases wind through U.S. immigration courts. They often struggle to find legal advice and say they feel unsafe. The Trump administration introduced the new policy in January amid a surge of asylum-seeking families from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador arriving at the Mexican border. Gregory Bull / Associated Press

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About the MPP policy

Previously, asylum-seekers who crossed at ports of entry or who were apprehended after illegally entering the country were allowed to stay in the U.S. until an immigration judge ruled on their cases.

Under the new policy, first described by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in December, many asylum-seekers at the southern border are being processed by federal agents and immediately returned to Mexico while their cases are pending in immigration court.

The Homeland Security Department intends to apply the policy to migrants arriving at ports of entry, as well as those who enter illegally between the ports, according to its website.

With only a few exceptions, the Migrant Protection Protocols apply to any immigrant deemed inadmissible by Homeland Security, even if the person has fears about staying in Mexico. Only unaccompanied children and individuals in expedited removal proceedings, as well as asylum-seekers from Mexico, are excluded.

The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging the policy in federal court, but it's just the latest attempt by the Trump administration to control the entry of migrants into the United States.

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'Metering' and other U.S. efforts to limit influx of immigrants

During the summer, the CBP began stationing agents at the boundaries between the U.S. and Mexico on pedestrian walkways along the southern border. The agents often told asylum seekers that their “facilities were full” and that they should “try later.”

In the fall, CBP began coordinating with Mexican authorities to control the number of asylum seekers admitted into the United States each day, which kept thousands of would-be asylum-seekers in Mexican cities.

Under this “metering” system, CBP coordinates with Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Migracion, or National Migration Institute, to limit the number of asylum-seekers who are processed and held in U.S. facilities. The metering occurred even as the number of immigrants from Central America and Cuba staying in Juárez grew.

Shelter volunteers said some days last week, CBP officers in El Paso did not admit any asylum-seekers. They estimated that the average number of asylum-seekers admitted to El Paso ports had dwindled from about 60 a day to about 20.

Casa del Migrante, a shelter in Juárez, once managed the list of immigrants who were allowed to present themselves to U.S. authorities to petition for asylum. That responsibility has been taken over by Chihuahua’s Consejo Estatal de Poblacion, or State Population Council, known as COESPO.

Dirvin Garcia, a coordinator for COESPO, said immigrants have been encouraged to try to find work during their stay in Juárez. He said they are being granted temporary visas to remain in Mexico while they await asylum hearings, but they need to apply for a work visas to be employed.

He said the state agency provides resources and provides opportunities for migrants to begin working. He said, “We are reaching out to specific employers so they can apply.”